Doylestown's Monaghan is just a winner

Tuesday

It is not often that a .231 batting average, even for a six-game tournament, is looked at as anything but well below average for high school baseball.

Except without Joe Monaghan’s .231 — as well as his two wins on the mound — the Doylestown Tigers’ season might very well be over.

Monaghan did a little bit of everything for Doylestown last week at the Region 2 American Legion tournament at West Lawn. This week in Boyertown, he’ll look to bring similar intangibles when the Tigers take part in the Pennsylvania state tournament.

Manager Steve Ruane’s squad will open up states at Bear Stadium against Region 7 champ Hempfield East (30-2), at 9:45 a.m.

“He has that heart of a champion, that football mentality,” Ruane said after Wednesday’s championship game against Bath at regionals.

Doylestown (now 30-7-2) was very much on the ropes Wednesday. It was shut out and two-hit in the opener by tough Bath pitcher Ed Albertson and late in the winner-take-all title game, the Tigers trailed 3-2 going into the seventh.

But Monaghan, who was a two-year starting quarterback at Archbishop Wood, a state semifinalist in 2010 and Class AAA champion in 2011, never lost confidence that his squad could come back, even with its offensive struggles.

“We still had three innings left and we knew we’d make something happen,” Monaghan said. “We just stayed positive the whole time.”

Monaghan ended up with a key two-run double in the seventh to put Doylestown in front, and then he doubled and scored an insurance run in the ninth.

He also moved from right field to pitcher, where he twirled 3 2/3 innings and allowed only one run, to pick up his second win of the tournament.

“I know he’s exhausted, but he wanted the ball,” Ruane said. “He’s not the state football champion for nothing.

“As a quarterback, you’ve got to have some courage to go out there and do that. He did that for us, and he crushed (the double in the seventh).”

From a leadership perspective, being a quarterback carries over to other sports, too.

“I think football helps with the intensity,” Monaghan said. “With getting guys (intensity) up and that kind of thing.”

There’s more work to be done for this Doylestown squad, which has won 17 out of 18 games. Adding a state title to its resume and a spot in the Mid-Atlantic Regionals next week would be a nice way to extend the summer.

For Monaghan, who didn’t play baseball for Archbishop Wood this spring, it’s been a memorable ride that he’ll take with him when football camp opens at Dickinson College for him in a few weeks.

“It’s been a great time,” he said. “It’s the best decision I ever made playing on this team.”